The scenario put to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of Spain’s People’s Party, at a precampaign event organised by La Razón was a repeat mass entry from Morocco into Ceuta. He said the government should first contact Morocco and seek a commitment to prevent an assault on the border, then warn that Spain would deploy the Army if it received no adequate response.
No deployment was announced. Feijóo presented the Army warning as a conditional proposal for a future entry, alongside a policy of seeking cooperation with Morocco. He said Spain should be treated with respect and that the government must remain firm.
The proposal comes against the backdrop of Ceuta’s recent mass-entry precedent. On 17 May 2021, more than 10,000 people entered the city from Morocco over roughly 48 hours, according to figures attributed to Spain’s Interior Ministry. They arrived by swimming and crossing the border fence. Contemporary reporting linked the surge to heightened diplomatic tension after Spain admitted Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali for medical treatment.
In later remarks, Feijóo also advocated negotiations with Moroccan authorities to manage migration and enable returns to countries of origin. He described his approach to Morocco as combining good neighbourliness with firmness.
His historical argument also needs a correction. Feijóo said Ceuta had been Spanish for 500 years and before Navarra, and claimed the city had never been Moroccan. He also said it endured a 30-year siege by a Moroccan sultan without the city being entered.
The chronology runs the other way. Castile conquered Navarra militarily in 1512, while Ceuta was incorporated into the Crown of Castile in 1580. Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city, was conquered in 1497, before Navarra’s conquest.
Political coverage has also examined disputes over regional and national authority, including the film-subsidy rules in Castilla y León, which Spain's Culture Ministry says it will challenge in court.
